Xenosaga Episode III: The Unimaginable Triumph

After Xenosaga Episode II ended up becoming one of the most disappointing RPGs of its generation, nobody was expecting Episode III to be anything special. But it was, in the most spectacular way possible. In this final Xenosaga retrospective video, I discuss how Episode III not only improves in virtually every area Episode II fell short, but delivered an ending so emotionally powerful that it almost makes every other criticism I have about the series meaningless. Works Cited: Xenogears and Xenosaga Study Guide, http://xenogearsxenosagastudyguide.bl... Kotaku, "The History of Monolithsoft," https://kotaku.com/from-xenogears-to-... FRP Fan, "Xenosaga III First Look Preview," https://web.archive.org/web/201709021... IGN, "Reader Q&A: Xenosaga Episode 3," https://web.archive.org/web/201602041... Abandoned English Fan Translation of Xenosaga I + II, http://aerie.wingdreams.net/ Differences Between Xenosaga I + II and The PS2 Games, http://yzak.nu/cfud/xenosaga/ds.html Xenosaga: Pied Piper English Translation, https://web.archive.org/web/200710060... Soraya Saga FAQ, http://xenogearsxenosagastudyguide.bl... Xenosaga: A Missing Year English Translation,    • Xenosaga: A Missing Year (English Translat...   Resonant Arc, "Becoming Whole | Xenogears Thematic Analysis (Ft. Patrick Holleman),"    • Becoming Whole | Xenogears Thematic Analys...   00:00 - Introduction 02:23 - Lack of Dev History 03:17 - Possible Reasons For Lack of Dev History 05:25 - The Return of Tetsuya Takahashi 08:11 - Xenosaga I + II 11:00 - Xenosaga: Pied Piper 13:27 - Xenosaga: A Missing Year 14:52 - The Supplemental Stories (Conclusion) 15:55 - The Graphics (Character Designs and Environments) 17:31 - The Cutscenes 19:07 - The Soundtrack 21:11 - The Sidequests 23:24 - The Character Battle System 26:48 - Money, Shops, Character Customization 28:10 - The Mech Battle System 29:25 - The Miracle of Episode III’s Improvement 30:11 - The English Dub 31:29 - Introduction to the Story 32:15 - Disc 1 Summary 34:00 - The Xeno Series Disc 2 Curse Revisited 35:06 - Disc 2 Introduction 35:38 - Pacing Issues 36:03 - Sellers 37:04 - Richard and Hermann 38:30 - Pellegri and Margulis 40:59 - Introduction to the Ending/Complete Thematic Analysis 42:21 - The Theme of Xenosaga (Even the Smallest of Waves Can Spread Throughout The Whole) 45:10 - Shion (Part One) 49:00 - Shion (Part Two) 50:08 - Kevin 53:59 - Allen 56:36 - The Final Scenes 59:02 - Conclusory Remarks 1:04:50 - Ending Credits